Mabel stark autobiography meaning

Now years-old, Mabel recounts her life and confesses to the proud and not so proud moments and events of her life, from a rebellious teenager growing up in Kentucky as Mary Hanie, through five marriages, and at least a dozen severe maulings by the very tigers she become world famous for training. Through the colourful and descriptive narration you feel as though you've been transported back in time and are there, with Mabel, observing from somewhere underneath the Big Top!

You can almost smell the oil from the tiger's skin, breathe in the heady mabel stark autobiography meaning of the straw bales set out as seats for circus goers, and hear the crack of the tiger trainer's whip, and shouts of instruction to the animals!! Mabel, a woman filled with love, courage, strength, tragedy, and adventure is not reluctant to show her abrasive sides.

Join Member Login Patron Login. Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of ! Write a Review. About this book Summary. Book Summary. More about membership! Reviews Media Reviews Reader Reviews. Media Reviews "Robert Hough's rollicking debut novel Reader Reviews Write your own review Louise J. Author Information Biography.

Inwhile in Detroit, Michigan, she was attacked by her leopards during a parade, and during the winter of she was again attacked in Venice, California. She adopted a sickly tiger cub named Rajah and raised him to perform a famous wrestling act with her. She accomplished this by romping and playing with the cub at the beach and actually keeping him as a pet in her apartment.

According to Stark's autobiography:. Up he went on his hind legs, his forefeet around my neck. We turned around once or twice, I threw him to the ground, and we rolled three or four times. I opened his mouth and put my face inside, then jumped to my feet". Rajah became instrumental in making Stark a star. She admitted years later that Rajah was actually relieving himself sexually during this wrestling act, which looks very much like a vicious attack to anyone not familiar with tiger behaviour.

Stark started wearing a white uniform at this time so that the audience would not see tiger semen. The white costume became her signature, which she used for the rest of her career. She was approached by, and joined, the Ringling Bros. By the end of that season, of the six wild animal acts featured with the circus, Mabel Stark's was clearly the greatest success.

Inshe starred in the Ringling centre ring, but two years later the circus banned all wild animal acts. By then Stark had divorced Roth and was a star act. She married the circus's accountant Albert Ewing, who was embezzling funds from Ringling. They divorced when the crime was uncovered, but Stark believed she was being punished for her husband's sins when the circus cut all big cat acts in Ringling chiefs claimed that the cage took too long to assemble and tear down during a performance.

Stark was still under contract, though, and was assigned to a horse act. Her tigers were kept on in the circus's menagerie, which was supervised by Art Rooney. Mabel later claimed that she married her first husbands for practical reasons, but she fell in love with Rooney. They soon married, which surprised other circus employees because Rooney wore makeup and nail polish, and they assumed he was not the marrying kind.

Rooney died soon after under circumstances that were not recorded. After a sojourn to Europe where she performed in a circus, she came back to the U. The circus train was late getting to the venue in Bangor, Maine, the tigers were getting wet in the rain, and there was no time to feed them before the show. Normally, a cat act would be delayed or cancelled for this reason.

But Stark let the show go on. Two hungry tigers named Sheik and Zoo mauled her during the show. Stark's own description of the incident was:. I could feel blood pouring into both my boots, but I was determined to go through with the act.

Mabel stark autobiography meaning

Zoo jumped from his pedestal and seized my right leg, jerking me to the ground. As I fell, Sheik struck out with one paw, catching the side of my head, almost scalping me. She suffered numerous maulings and serious injuries over her nearly 60 years of working with tigers. At one point in her career, she would face 18 big cats in the ring.

She performed with the Sells-Floto Circus in and then rejoined Barnes after it had been sold to Ringling in She stayed there until it was absorbed into Ringling Bros. Inshe and her tiger act was filmed for the Paramount Pictures motion picture King of the Jungle. In the film, Stark is seen putting her tigers through their paces when fire erupts in the big top.

Stark appeared occasionally on television in the s. For example, she did a stint as one of the guests with an unusual occupation on What's My Line? InJungleland was sold to a new owner who disliked Stark and fired her. Stark was angry and hurt about the animal's destruction, and felt that she could have safely secured the tiger if the owners had asked for her assistance.

Three months later, she committed suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates. In the last pages of her autobiography, Hold That TigerStark writes: "The chute door opens as I crack my whip and shout, 'Let them come,' Out slink the striped cats, snarling and roaring, leaping at each other or at me. It's a matchless thrill, and life without it is not worth while to me.

She died on April 20, It is a fictionalized account of the events of her life. The screenplay was optioned by director Sam Mendes with the hopes of making a film starring his wife Kate Winslet ; however, no production schedule has been announced. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. Wikidata item.